WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Cruella, now playing in theaters and streaming on Disney+ Premier Access.
Cruella star Emma Stone discussed the similarities and differences between her version of the Disney villain and Betty Lou Gerson's take in the classic 1961 Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
During a press conference attended by CBR, Stone shared, "I loved the cartoon of 101 Dalmatians. I especially loved that the dogs looked like their owners. I always thought that was so funny, and I remember as a kid trying to see if dogs did in fact look like their owners, and a lot of times, they do... I loved the cartoon. I thought Cruella was such a fun character."
The La La Land actor revealed that she originally received the call to portray Cruella de Vil almost six years ago and bringing the Cruella film to life on the big screen wasn't straightforward. "There was sort of an idea. Disney has all this IP, all these characters that they have, and there are sort of some brainstorms," Stone said. "It was a process of about four years and different writers and different things were brought to the table."
The Oscar winner also admitted there were several moments during pre-production when she felt like they might not ever get the movie made, stating, "Because even though she's such a fun and interesting character, what world would we all want to explore her in that would really make sense and make a good film, that didn't feel shoehorned into this character?"
Stone shared that one difference between her character and the animated version was the time-era change. "I think taking her and putting her in the '70s -- as much as she is Cruella from 101 Dalmatians, she's not also," she said. "You've taken this character and you've created this whole new story for her, with fun nods to 101 Dalmatians, obviously, and all that. So, I think once [director] Craig [Gillespie] and [writer] Tony [McNamara] came on board, it really started to fly and get very exciting. And it was like, 'Oh my God, we're making Cruella.'"
In addition to serving as an origin story, Cruella features a mid-credits scene that gave more context to the relationship between Cruella and her future 101 Dalmatians victims. Specifically, the extra scene suggested that Stone's character actually gifted Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita to their respective owners -- Anita and Roger.
Directed by Craig Gillespie, Cruella stars Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Paul Walter Hauser, Joel Fry, Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Mark Strong. The film is currently available in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access.